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Metro News: ACORN calls for federal government to raise their own minimum wage to $15 an hour

Posted April 15, 2015

The lowest wages in Ontario will see a small increase this year, but members of Ottawa and Gatineau ACORN are saying the federal government should be raising its own minimum wage.

The group held a rally Wednesday in front of the Prime Minister’s office to demand a $15 an hour minimum wage for that all workers and contracted employees in the federal government.

“People are not having enough money to pay for food and rent and hydro because all of those things are going up a lot faster than minimum wage is,” said Mavis Finnamore, chair of the organization’s Ottawa South chapter.

She attended the rally with around 60 other people chanting and carrying flags and homemade signs.

ACORN, who campaign for economic justice across the country, was one of the groups who successfully lobbied to raise minimum wage in Ontario to $11.15 this fall.

They are now focusing on federal wages in a lead-up to the October election.

Grace Iyabosa, who currently works on-call at an Ottawa daycare, said she came to the rally because she struggles to pay rent and care for her two kids on minimum wage.